Words from Others

I know there's still time left for 2016 to redeem itself but I doubt a few short weeks of goodness could reconcile the last eleven and a half months of abject torment so I'm just going to say it: this year has been the absolute worst for the best of us and I cannot wait to see it go. I've been on the receiving end of some pretty devious scheming and I've done some things I'm not proud of. I've been a victim of mean girls and I've been a mean girl myself. These last few months especially have been a period of mourning and rebirth. 

I'm not completely happy with myself. I'm definitely a work in progress and am still making mistakes every day. However, I'm not going to go on and on about it as I'm wont to do. I've been surrounding myself with quotes that challenge me to be the person I'm working towards becoming. Knowing I surely can't be alone in this journey, I decided to take a break from the usual things I write about to share some with you. (For positivity's sake.)

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

MAYA ANGELOU

“If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company.” 

JEAN-PAUL SARTRE

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” 

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

“Au milieu de l'hiver, j'ai découvert en moi un invincible été.” 

ALBERT CAMUS

“When you see a good person, think of becoming like her/him. When you see someone not so good, reflect on your own weak points.” 

CONFUCIOUS 

“She hoped to be wise and reasonable in time; but alas! Alas! She must confess to herself that she was not wise yet.” 

JANE AUSTEN

“The worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you.”

BETTE MIDLER

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” 

C.S. LEWIS

“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.” 

VOLTAIRE

“She would be a new person, she vowed. They said no matter how far a mule travels it can never come back a horse, but she would show them all.” 

JUNOT DIAZ

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”

HERMAN MELVILLE

“Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door. ” 

COCO CHANEL

"They want to see you do good, but never better than them."

 A BRONX TALE

“There is scarcely any passion without struggle.” 

ALBERT CAMUS

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” 

KURT VONNEGUT

“Existence is an imperfection.” 

JEAN-PAUL SARTRE

What are some of your favorite quotes? I'd love to hear them. 

xo, e.m.